Stop the war!There is a war raging against women and children in Namibia ... all over the world ... yet some say we have peace and stability There is a war raging in our cities, towns and villages; in our communities, streets, homes and bedrooms, yet some say we have peace and stability A war is being raged on the bodies of women and children of this land What peace and stability are we speaking about? Some say the cause of this war is poverty Did the poor women and children of this land create poverty? Some say the cause of the war is unemployment Did the unemployed women and children of this land create unemployment? Few see gender inequality as the root cause for the death of our mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts and grandmothers Answers are being sought in madness, illness, moral decay, return to traditional norms In the meantime ... Our legislators make mockery of gender equality The churches don't preach on gender equality The schools don't teach on gender equality Our traditional leaders promote traditions and cultures that oppress women They think 'let women and girls continue to be slaves cause we need slaves in our homes in our street in our offices in our beds ... working on our land ... Let women be the custodians of archaic and oppressive cultures ...' My sisters, mothers, friends, aunts and grandmothers let us rise beyond these deadly expectations in our midst It's no government It's no church It's no school It's no traditional authority That will roll away the yoke of the gender inequality in this land Mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts and grandmothers We have to do it for ourselves The liberation of women's hearts, minds and bodies Is declared born free on this 24th Day of February 2005 Rising, demanding, resisting, refusing A free liberated equal human being The woman The girl From this soil [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Speech by Elizabeth Elizabeth, sister of King Louis XVI of France Elizabeth, 1764–94, sister of King Louis XVI of France, known as Madame Elizabeth. Deeply loyal to her brother, she remained in France during the French Revolution, suffered imprisonment, and was Khaxas at the vigil vigil (vĭj`əl) [Lat.,=watch], in Christian calendars, eve of a feast, a day of penitential preparation. In ancient times worshipers gathered for vespers before a great feast and then waited outside the church until dawn for the liturgy (Mass). for Manuela Sophia IIHoesemas on 24th February February: see month. 2005 Elizabeth Khaxas is the Director of the Centre for Women's Leadership. She is currently collecting stories by women for an anthology on women's liberation Women's Liberation Noun a movement promoting the removal of inequalities based upon the assumption that men are superior to women Also called: (women's lib) and oppression The offense, committed by a public official, of wrongfully inflicting injury, such as bodily harm or imprisonment, upon another individual under color of office. Oppression, which is a misdemeanor, is committed through any act of cruelty, severity, unlawful exaction, or fifteen years after independence. |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion